A showy fast bowler with more brawn than brain, Rose nevertheless possesses a lovely high rhythmical action. He gets reliable outswing from a full length, unlike so many of his West Indian rivals, but seems to prefer banging it in halfway down. Rose enjoyed a meteoric Test debut against India in 1996-97, taking 6 for 100 in the first innings, including five specialist batsmen.

But his next 18 Tests produced just one more five-wicket haul - 7 for 84 at Durban, where Wisden said "Rose got more swing than anyone on either side". Macho tendencies returned for a dire 2000 series in England, where his attempts to bounce Dominic Cork did so much to lose the crucial Lord's Test. The photographers would have liked to see more of that star-shaped, fist-pumping wicket celebration.